I had slightly raised expectations for Finding Dory. More often than not when I have low expectations I am pleasantly surprised by how movies turns out, especially with sequels. This may explain why the latest Pixar was slightly disappointing to me.
It was great to see familiar characters, as with any sequel. However, they lost some of the charm found in Finding Nemo. Dory, as the center of stardom lost her place as the comic relief. She moved into more of a sympathetic emotion-drawing Nemo-eque role. It left an uneasily filled hole for homor, and jokes were occasionally recycled from the original. If you missed the seagulls saying “mine” over and over (which was as I kid I found hilarious) don’t worry, you’ll see seals that say “off” in a similar fashion (yeah, okay it was pretty funny.)
New characters made up for this though. Fans of Modern Family will not be disappointed, hearing Phil (Ty Burrell) as a beluga whale, and Jay (Ed O'Neill) as a septopus (an octopus with a missing tentacle.) Hank the septopus plays a similar cantankerous character as that on Modern Family, but will win your affection, especially after the hinted details of a tragic backstory. He also has neat camouflaging abilities.
Finding Dory lost my enthusiasm however, when I realized that the movie was basically one long chase/narrow escape scene. Finding Nemo had some to be sure, but there were more established locations as well. Nemo was perfectly safe and stationary in his dentist fish tank for a while. Sometimes Marlin and Dory on their side of the adventure got into trouble, but it also a journey. The search for Dory didn’t carry this vibe as well. It felt like hopping from one “oh no the characters have to escape under intense uncompromising circumstances in a few seconds, but barely manage to, using very complicated methods” moment to the next. Frankly, it was exhausting. This works when surprise and relief are soon around the corner, but towards the end (when all the surprises were essentially over and you could map out the happy Disney ending) you just wanted to hurry up and see it happen already.
The film still had a redeeming qualities however. As always, Pixar pays close attention to every minor detail to create stunning visuals. Watching gorgeous and intensely blue animated water for an hour and 37 minutes, is the perfect way to escape the summer heat. I think I may have dreams tonight about the most intricate and largest tank at the aquarium depicted.
As expected, the familiar voice of Ellen DeGeneres made the film. There was also an inspiring message of love, optimism, friendship, and how to get yourself unlost. It came to mind immediately when we had forgotten where we parked at the theater.
